[Tekoa Town, Ester's House]

"Aaaaarrrgggghhhh!!!"

With pure anger, Ester released his frustration in his home's furniture as he was lost on what to do. Lost on what choices he must make and lost on how to retrieve his wife. Alongside the fact that his whole world had crumbled when the mayor of the town Betrayed his trust by violating his wife and barring her from him, he can't seem to trust anyone.

He was blinded by rage, he can't see no one nor understand anyone at all. He was so angry at himself that even his daughter Talia was in danger from being harmed by his violent rampage.

The only difference is that his anger does not stem from revenge nor wrath towards another person, but rather to himself, to the town, and to the mayor that he had once fully trusted. Alongside his anger, he was crying, in deep sorrow, he was helpless, he was pathetic, he was all of it so much that it even made hard for Asagi and the rest to comfort him.

"Ahhhhhh!!!! Why? Why? I trusted you! I was loyal to you! Why did you do this? What did I do to deserve this? Why! Just why! Was everything a lie?"

As Ester cried in his anger while holding his head as if he was losing himself, Asagi pulled Talia away as this scene was not meant for a child to see at all. In fact a child should not see his or her parents cry in front of him. For a child their parents are like their idol, they're savior, a person so tough that they can handle everything. So if a child ever saw his or her parents in despair, such emotion would naturally be transmitted to the child which could potentially leave him or her as a trauma.

With Asagi's permission, She let Ban, Hino, and Fujino, literally all of the girls in the Hero's party to take care of Taliain order to avoid of her acquiring a trauma from this scene alone. However despite saying that, Asagi can't prevent Talia if she ever tries to look back and imprint the figure of her father in despair deep inside her mind.

"Jophiel! Gather more information about this incident, Azrael! Form a perimeter from this place, make sure to guard it, and the rest of us will have to stay here and try to comfort Ester"

Hearing Asagi's orders, all of them agreed on the arrangements, as they all begun to move to their assigned position and did their best in their sele time task.

After the archangels left the room, Zaheer quietly sat down on one chair as he asked one of the problematic question.

"So how do we comfort him?"

"Thats the troubling thing, even though we can try to calm him down, it still wouldn't work" said by Takahashi

"Don't look at me, I never had to take care of someone before, so I'm pretty useless here" said by Zaheer

"I never knew he is capable of being in despair" commented by Asmaveth

"Well we have to  almost him down one way of another" said by Asagi

In that moment, Sato then slowly walked forward as he volunteered to try and cheer up Ester. At first everyone was confused on why he would help, after all Sato has literally zero experience in cheering up for anybody. Little did they know as a hero, he can't just leave anyone in despair, a Hero's duty per se.

After deciding the fact that Sato was assigned to calm Ester down, the person himself then walked up to Ester as he tried to comfort him with his soft voice.

Unfortunately Ester wasn't that simple to be simply suited by a few words of mouth. With this Sato's first attempt had failed in trying to comfort Ester.

Despair, the loss of hope for the future, is one of the most difficult experiences. Despair can often appear out of the blue. We may suffer a tragic loss of a loved one or receive devastating news about our health. Maybe a scary world event suddenly unfolds. Our lives can drastically change over night.

Despair may emerge slowly, its heaviness inching into our hearts more and more each day. No matter its roots, despair can lead a person to a dark and sorrowful place. A person may experience debilitating exhaustion, tearfulness, panic, even shame. Hopelessness, true to its name, convinces them that there is no way out. No point in trying, nothing that can be done to alleviate a persons misery.

It that moment in time when Sato was busy in trying to calm down Ester, Jophiel then returned as he then relayed what he had found. Apparently despite knowing everything in his life, Ester does not know that Rueben his former second in command had killed all the remaining members when they were near the town about sometime ago.

With this in her hand, she was quite sure that this will make Ester dive onto despair even more while fueling his anger within. This was truly troubling.

"Well he life is pretty fucked up! What do we do now? Tell him about this piece of news or not? I'm gone either way" said by Zaheer

"Thats... a tough choice, should we tell him?" Asked by Takahashi

"At his current state of mind? Why don't we just break him apart? We can't possibly tell him now, he won't be able to handle it, this piece of news would literally break him apart"

"Well we can't possibly hide this forever  right?" Asked by Asmaveth

"Only until Ester can stabilize his emotions, as he is right now, he is no good"

While Asagi and the rest where discussing this among themselves, hero Sato on the other hand sat near Ester as he kept calling out his name.

"Hey! Ester! Keep calm! Your wife... you will soon rescue her, just believe in  yourself"

In that moment Ester finally spoke.

"Believe... that's a strong word, do you even know the weight of that word? Cause if you don't then shut up, your just a kid, you know nothing"

When Sato heard that, he was actually taken aback and couldn't even say a single word of reply. But despite being retorted like that by Ester, Sato simply sat near him as he said.

"Your right! I know nothing, I'm ignorant, maybe that's why i want to believe, because I'm ignorant"

Hearing that Ester glared at him for a moment before standing up in limping motion and walked away.

"Leave me alone! All of you.... GET OUT!!!"

As Ester shouted those words, he then walked away as he passed by everyone and headed to the second floor. Seeing his back turned on them, Asagi informed Sato about the current issue they found put which caused the latter to be even more shock on how bad things turn out for Ester. In that moment, it seems like Sato had met the first person who have the worst of luck in his life.

*********

Time passed, the light of the moon illuminate the town as various scenes happened all over the vicinity, some were having a drink, some were taking their dinner, some were tucking in their children, while some were scheming something from the dark. But despite that seemingly peaceful atmosphere Ester house is a separate issue in it itself.

While Ban, Hino, and Fujino prepares dinner for everyone while taking care of Talia, Asagi on the other hand saw Sato heading upstairs without even touching his food. Despite the delicious food being infront of them, everyone aside from Talia seemed to be having a hard time in swallowing their food as they all seemed concerned for Ester. Even Asmaveth who was hostile towards Ester a couple of days ago seemed to pity him now.

At this moment Asmaveth realized that every single one of them are suffering in their own way, he was not the only one suffering in this world. If he was suffering from the curse of death, Zaheer was suffering from his experience and responsibility, Asagi was suffering from her isolation, Sato was suffering from his burden, and any more.

But despite everything that had transpired, Asagi couldn't help but be assured that Sato would be able to comfort Ester, now that he really needed someone he can trust.

While everyone was eating downstairs, Sato then arrived at Ester's room, as he slowly opened the door and saw Ester sitting on a chair facing the window. Maybe due to his inability to think straight, Ester forgot to lock the door as he seemingly out of it, a typical response when he steamed out, yet still has anger within him.

However despite seemingly out of it, as a fighter, Ester noticed Sato's presence as he asked him in a heavy voice that seemed to not wanting to be disturbed.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to leave? I even told you guys to get out? Why aren't you leaving? Are you now trying to steal away my house? My home? Everything was taken from me! EVERYTHING!!!"

"How can you say that? You still have your daughter" replied

"My wife... she was my whole world, she made me into a person I am now, without her I am nothing"

"Are you ignoring your daughter now?"

"Who?"

When Sato heard that question, he suddenly realized that Ester begun to have short term memory loss due to the stress from the betrayal and losing his love. Even though it's not much for some other people, he can't even fathom just how this affected him at all in any scale. If this symptom doesn't get treated immediately, Ester may suffer from amnesia by forgetting who is his daughter or seeing everyone in a different light.

"Don't say that...."

"What are you blabbering about"

"Talia! She is your daughter, she is important too, a part of your world, if you break down now, who would take care of here huh? Man up! This is not over, you... we can still take your wife from the mayor"

"Hahahah! You? Take my wife from that wretched pig traitor? You can't even deal with a single death knight alone, how can you expect to retrieve her?"

"We have... Asagi and her guards with her" said by Sato as he tried to hide the fact that Asagi is not human and the archangels existence, he doesn't know why, but his intuition is telling him to hide their true identity

"Them? Don't kid with me, I Kay not know how they look in front of you, but I clearly know what they are from how they behave, that girl and her two bodyguards? They won't move without anything to benefit them, they always have this type of judging eyes, they won't help out of goodwill"

"From what I see, your the judgemental one"

"... get out! I'm done speaking to you"

"You can't stay like this, think about your daughter"

"Daughter... what's her name again? Ah right Talia... I don't care anymore... you guys can take care of her for all I care"

Abandonment, that was the feeling Sato felt when Ester said his piece. Due to his anger and sadness, it is impossible for him to think straight, in that right he even foolishly gaveway his onlu daughter. For Sato, he despises anyone who easily abandons a person, especially if they are related.

"Your a douchebag... we'll talk again after you cool down"

With those words, Sato left the room with a negative impression he had towards Ester.

When Sato left, silence befall the room, which even gave Ester some strange idea of killing himself. He was angry and sad, yet he couldn't vent his anger towards the people who is responsible for it, it was useless... he tried to take his wife back, but he failed, all because he was weak.

With this thoughts entering his mind, a sly laugh entered his ears which literally creeper him out, as he looked around in his room. However no matter where he look, he can't seem to find the source of that evil laugh.

"Are you thinking of killing yourself without taking revenge? Where's your pride? It seems I have overestimated you"

"Who's voice is that? Where are you? SHOW YOURSELF!!!"

"Shhh! Dont be loud, you might trigger the danger sense of the people downstairs... I don't want to get involved with them yet, after all a number of them are quite a troublesome figure... so I would like our conversation to be our little secret"

"You... "

As Ester begun to spread his hostility, which could alert everyone downstairs, the voice suddenly cuts him in as it said something which caused Ester to hold back his hostility.

"You want power right? Just enough to retrieve your wife? I'll give it to you, you may not know but I can make you strong enough to retrieve your wife"

Hearing the word retrieve, Ester's judgment became clouded with expectation as he disregarded the identity of the voice as long as he retrieve his wife.

"You can make me strong? How? Tell me! TELL ME NOW!!!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah! It's not free of course, I seek for equal exchange"

"Exchange? What do you want? Money? My strength? Loyalty?"

"Neither of them... what I want is something even more precious... a part of you, your soul"

At that Ester was shocked, but he didn't back away as he begun to consider the offer. As long as he can retrieve his wife, he is willing to sacrifice anything even if he bargains to a devil.

"My... my soul?"

"Yes! In exchange for your soul, I give  you power strong enough to not only retrieve your wife, but also to kill the people who betrayed you"

With that Ester gritted his teeth as he now was assured to take the offer.

"Fine! Take anything... my soul or what not, as long as I can retrieve my wife and kill those traitorous bastards"

"Your will is my command"

"But before anything, I atleast want to hear who you are.... who are you?"

"Me?"

"....."

"Lucifer.... Lucifer Morningstar"

***ReadAtWebnovel***